Fujifilm XF50-140mmF2.8 R LM OIS WR

I'd like to get a couple of things out of the way: First, as I've mentioned in other reviews I ran camera stores and a national photo catalog for years. Second, I've sold hundreds of 70-200s and borrowed them dozens of times but never owned one long term, I could always use a loaner. In short I have a lot of experience with lenses in general including fast tele-zooms.Thumbnail review of the Fuji 50-140mm f2.8 - If you need it, buy it, it is really as good as everyone says it is. Pleasing and solid build, I have no concern it will require more than normal care in handling. Functionally the zoom and focus rings are as smooth in operation as any top end lens I've handled. Internal focus and internal zoom seems to be hard to find anymore, but having both makes it very easy to use filter holders and grad filters. The short arc to zoom makes composition a breeze. The IS is nothing short of outstanding, I can handhold the 50-140 and get fewer blurred images than with the 55-200. And finally images taken with this lens are some of the sharpest I've seen.Oh, and the foot on the rotating collar isn't Arca Swiss compatible but you can swap it out for a foot that is for about $40 from 3rd party vendors.tldr/As a photographer I shoot across a range of styles, from street to tabletop and landscape. What I do not shoot are portraits, sports, or video. I did all three ages ago and found that I had no desire to continue. What drives me to acquire camera equipment is need with also a little bit of desire, I need certain focal lengths but I want the equipment that's the best fit for me. I'm 7 years past my switch from Canon to Fuji and I'm still very happy with my pictures so I think the verdict is in for me, I'm not feeling any motivation to use another brand or platform.Two years ago I needed a longer lens to punch in on my landscapes and to make panoramic images of deep scenes. I purchased the 55-200 because that's what I felt I could afford. The lens is very sharp, compact, and fast focusing - the 55-200 is a great lens. But. Because the barrel extends on the 55-200 while zooming, and there is no way to lock it down, each time I adjusted filters setting up a shot the zoom would creep in or out changing composition and focus (the lens isn't constant focus throughout the zoom range). The 55-200 is a great lens, just not for what I want to shoot.The 50-140 was my second choice, but only because of price. As mentioned above the quality of the lens and its images are fantastic, but it's the internal focus and zoom that have been game changers for me. I no longer have zoom and focus creep when adjusting filters and my landscapes are much better for it.Soapbox moment: The 50-140 gives approximately the same magnification through the viewfinder as a 70-200 on a FF camera. The rest of that statement is: f2.8 is f 2.8 and doesn't change based on sensor size. Please stop multiplying apertures to find an equivalent. Applying 'crop factor' to aperture only helps describe the out of focus background in specific situations, it has nothing to do with light gathering. So, f2.8 is f2.8. This lens gathers as much light allowing similar shutter speeds in a given lighting situation as a FF 70-200 f2.8.Also, I suggest not worrying too much about equivalency between two different sensor formats. Honestly, nobody in film days ever spent this much time rationalizing magnification and bokeh differences between 35mm (FF) and medium format. We just shot our cameras. The same applies here, how often do you look at a scene and say to yourself "I think a 73mm focal length would be perfect"? You just don't do that when you're shooting a zoom, you view the scene through the eyepiece or back panel and compose your image. You just shoot your camera. In that moment is anyone really doing the math to determine the FF equivalancy of their shot?Off the soapbox...Summary: The 50-140 lens works for me in ways that the 55-200 couldn't. Internal focus and zoom make a huge difference for me and I probably should have purchased this lens first and skipped the 55-200. The 50-140 is a monster of a lens in comparison, but it fits on my XT bodies well and feels comfortable to tote around. I will shoot this lens most often from a tripod, but when handheld the IS is exceptional and helps deliver very sharp images. Highly recommended!

This lens, as many have already noted is excellent. I stumbled across fuji about a year ago, when i got the xt10 for a trip. It came with the 18-55 zoom. I have a FF setup, pentax k1 with a number of primes and zooms including the Tamron 70-200 2.8. I was so impressed with the fuji i could not sell it after my trip. Later got the xt2, then this lens. I also in the meantime got the 35mm F2 and the 27mm 2.8.I wanted a small system for travel, street, casual shooting. So buying this lens was not what i had planned originally as it is huge and heavy. However, my thinking was, if i tried it and it worked well, then i could get rid of my FF setup. To be honest, it is hard to imagine i could go back to a crop system. This lens convinced me i could!! It is a little heavy, but balances well on the xt2.I have shot hundreds of photos with this lens and the xt2 and compared to shots taken with my FF and the Tamron. My conclusion? I don't lose much, if anything at all, from shooting the fuji. In fact this lens is much sharper wide open, focusses more accurately. As i do not have much time doing a lot of PP (except when i shoot a friend's wedding for fun), the jpegs from the fuji with this lens is very satisfying. I was thinking of the 56mm for portraits, but with this lens, i don't think I'll be buying that in a hurry.So with this lens, I'm ready to ditch my FF. The fuji mirrorless small body with the excellent small primes and the excellent 18-55 is great for casual, street, and travel photography. This lens allows me to do the other more serious things. This lens helped me make up my mind, and my FF setup will be going soon!! It is that good.

Big and bulky on my X-PRO2 let alone on my X-E2. Also expensive. I've always had mixed feelings about zooms - feel more comfortable with fixed focal length. So why five stars? Not so big and bulky if you compare it to 70-200mm on a full frame camera. About 1/2 the price of the latest 70-200 f/2.8's. I can make photos with it that would be hard to pull off with any other Fuji lens. To begin with there is the OIS - I have never been really steady with heavy hand held lenses but you wouldn't know that from seeing the results using this. None of Fuji's fixed focal length lenses in the 50-140mm range have OIS. I've used OIS (or VR) lenses before but here I find myself getting hand held results that just don't seem possible.If you have already read formal reviews about the 50-140mm you are already aware that optical quality is rated very highly. I won't dispute that and also note that if you use this with Fuji's matched 1.4x teleconverter there is no discernable image degradation.TIP: If you leave the tripod mount adapter that comes with it attached, you can use that as handle to hold lens+camera with one hand and the other hand for the camera controls. This mitigates much of the imbalance between the weight and size of the lens ans an X-E series body.My most common uses are :-to isolate subject matter from surroundings. Getting closer with a shorter lens might work but that tends to affect perspective. Having some distance keeps the image "flat". For me this applies more to nature/botanical subjects, but it has implications for portraits as well. The wide aperture makes for isolation by narrow depth-of-field and nice "bokeh".-certain landscapes where I want to flatten perspective such a row of trees or a mountainside with patches of autumn color amidst the conifers.-sports events like rodeos and horse races. With the x-PRO2 and the right camera settings continuous shooting with AF tracking works well. I'm sure it works even better on an X-T2.- carry a macro extension tube (Fuji's MCEX-11 is a good one). Slip it in place between the body and the lens and you get really good close-up (not true macro) capability.Another plus: having this lens has helped me restrain my desire for Fuji's 56mm and 90mm.Suggestion to Fuji: There is a reason Nikon (Canon, too?) aldo offer a 70-200 f/4! Think about in future planningUpdate: As kludgy as it sounds you can use the 1.4 teleconverter and the macro tube at the same time. Tube attaches to the camera body and televonverter goes between lens and tube. Still not a macro lens but gets you a closer closeup. Good results hand held but be sure OIS is switched on